Selective abortion of Down syndrome babies rises in UK

[Counselor706]

The number of Irish babies with Down syndrome aborted in England rose by 60 percent in just one year, from 17 in 2018 to 27 in 2019, the Iona Institute reports.

Since abortion was legalized in Ireland in January 2019, the number of abortions performed on Irish women in the UK in 2019 dropped by over 650 percent last year, but this did not curb the number of Down syndrome babies being aborted. On the contrary, that figure rose, mainly because British law allows abortion up to birth of babies suspected of having Down syndrome.

The UK’s Department for Health and Social Care released its official abortion figures for 2019 on June 11, revealing the highest number of abortions in the country’s history. According to the report, 209,519 abortions were performed in England and Wales during the 2019 calendar year, the highest number ever.

“In the last ten years, the number of people terminating for Down syndrome has gone up by 40 percent,” Phillips noted at the time. “Now nine out of ten British women terminate when they receive a positive diagnosis.

Source

 

[oggbashan]

"from 17 in 2018 to 27 in 2019"

That is not a significant number and could just be a variation on a normal number accounted for by the easing of abortion laws in Ireland. It is no longer illegal to travel to England for an abortion.

The current law in Ireland is:

However, beyond 12 weeks, abortions would only be permitted where there is a risk to a woman's life or of serious harm to the physical or mental health of a woman, up until the 24th week of pregnancy.

Terminations would also be permitted in cases of fatal foetal abnormality.

That still excludes abortion in Ireland for Down's Syndrome.